Adventures 2010-2011: Five Month Anniversary

I have been in Indonesia for over five months now and in preparation to return to the States for the holidays I've been doing a lot of reflecting about my time abroad this year. First of all, I cannot say enough great things about the people I've met! Indonesians on the whole are extremely hospitable (and forgiving of my horrendous Bhasa), personable (and eager to strike up conversation), and exhibit an incredible joie de vivre! Furthermore, I thoroughly enjoy my job: the kids are incredible and a lot of fun, my co-workers are fascinating people, and determining ways to make higher level math (at least from a 6th grade perspective) relevant to teenagers lives is quite intellectually stimulating. (and below is an example of how we used frame by frame animation to provide a more tangible context for matrix manipulation)

Furthermore, these past five months have been incredible in how much I've learned about myself. I love the quote "You've got to go away to come back" and previously used it in reference to sports, but having time away from it all has provided greater overall clarity regarding who I am and where I want to go in life.

On top of all of that, I'm spoiled with all of the different sights I've been able to see since being over here; from places throughout Indonesia (the the mountains near Bogor and the rice patties of Bali) to Angkor Wat and the country-side of Vietnam and Cambodia. While traveling and instead of watching TV I've been able to get through a number of great books. The top shelf represents those I've read while the bottom contains those still on the reading list.